Sausage & White Bean Pizza

I made an Alfredo-sauced pizza with sausage and white beans when I was thinking about something wintry and different. I chopped herbs for some peppery-freshness. It was great! What are your thoughts on white pizza? Let’s dish. I’m for it…maybe not every time, but yes, sign me up for something different every now and then.

The Three Bite Rule - Sausage & White Bean Pizza
Ingredients:
pizza dough (I used 3/4 of a refrigerated ball from the grocery store)
1 cup alfredo sauce
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
2 sweet Italian sausage links
3/4 cup white cannellini beans
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 cup arugula, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven (and pizza stone if using one) to 400-degrees.
Roll out the dough and spread out onto a pizza stone or baking sheet. Poke some holes into the dough using a fork. Then bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned and starting to crisp.
Remove the sausage from the casing and pan fry the sausage in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through. Then drain from the oil.
Layer the cooked dough with alfredo and cheese.
The Three Bite Rule - Sausage & White Bean Pizza
Then sprinkle with sausage, white beans, and Italian seasoning.
The Three Bite Rule - Sausage & White Bean Pizza
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust fully crisps and cheese melts. While pizza cooks, chop the arugula.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle arugula, and let set for 5 minutes before slicing.
The Three Bite Rule - Sausage & White Bean Pizza
Slice and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Sausage & White Bean Pizza
I liked this one for something different. It’d pair nicely with another more traditional pizza if making a few pizzas or flatbreads. I love arugula treated as an herb. It has wayyy more flavor to me than parsley, though if you had oregano kicking around that’d be nice too!

Crockpot Meatballs

My little one is 2 years old! How did that happen so quickly?! For his birthday dinner we made his favorites: pasta, meatballs, and cake! I made meatballs to cook in the sauce which was a first for me. I mixed them, balled ’em up, and dropped them into the sauce to cook on their own. They were great!!

The Three Bite Rule - Crockpot Meatballs
I normally like the crispy exterior of cooking meatballs, and I thought I might miss that. These turned out very juicy from cooking in the sauce. I was relieved they stayed together and would totally make them this way again. These meatballs being pork meant that there wasn’t excess oil that I’d expect if they were beef.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground pork
3 links Sweet Italian Sausage
1 cup breadcrumbs
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup baby Arugula, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups tomato sauce

Directions:

Mix together the breadcrumbs and the milk, then add all the ingredients into a bowl.
The Three Bite Rule - Crockpot Meatballs
Using your hands, mix everything together until well incorporated.
Roll into balls about 1.5 inches wide. Add into a crockpot with tomato sauce.
The Three Bite Rule - Crockpot Meatballs
Cook on high for 2.5 hours. Stir occasionally.
Enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Crockpot Meatballs
Meatballs are always a hit here. We all liked them and I’m glad to have some leftovers. These could cook on the stovetop too, rather than the crockpot. The size of the crockpot was great for 1 even layer of cooking though.

Pizza with Pear & Pancetta

Salty pancetta and sweet pear plus melty cheese makes for such a wonderfully balanced pizza. That’s it. Pizza dough, cheese, pancetta, and pear. That’s it. So, basically dinner is brought to you by the letter P.

The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
1 cup Pancetta
1 pear
1 1/2 cup shredded Mozarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven and pizza stone (if using one) to 400 degrees.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the pancetta to crisp. Then drain.
The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza
Spread the dough out onto a pan, poke a few holes into the dough. Cook for 5-8 minutes to lightly browned.
In the same pan as the pancetta, saute the pear for about 5 minutes over low heat just to soften a little.
The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza
Then top the dough with cheese, pear, and pancetta.
The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza
Bake for 5-8 minutes more until the cheese melts.
The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza

The little one picked off all the pancetta, ate that first, then the pears, then was full. I loved the sweet and subtle pear with the very salty pancetta. I’d totally make this again. Seriously, these few ingredients are just born to go together.

The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza

Fall Flavors Burger with Pork, Pear, & Sage

This fall burger is so fun with diced pear & sage in a ground pork burger. I thought about a grilled cheese with pear and sage and then I decided to make it in to a burger and figured pork would be perfect. It was so perfect for a fall evening.

The Three Bite Rule - Fall Pork Burger with Pear & Sage

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pear
5-6 sage leaves
ground black pepper & salt

Directions:

Mix together the pork, pear, and sage.
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Pork Burger with Pear & Sage
Form into patties and grill or pan-sear.
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Pork Burger with Pear & Sage
Be sure took cook through. Then top with lettuce, mustard, mayo, and lettuce.
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Pork Burger with Pear & Sage
Enjoy!

I wanted to be sure not to over do it on the sage. It is a strong flavor to me. I loved the raw pear that cooks slightly for a softness. I liked this one and might still make the grilled cheese version too!

 

Grilled Pork Tenderloin & Peach Cilantro Rice

You know when the all the stars align and your seemingly straightforward dinner wows you? This was that moment. I knew it was going to be good, and a nicely balanced meal, and pretty easy, but I didn’t really anticipate how much we’d all LOVE IT.

Excuse me while I pull out the ole soapbox. Get yourself a meat thermometer. Do not cook meat (especially pork!) without one. If you think you don’t love pork tenderloin then it miiiight be that you’ve only had it severely overcooked. Then it’s bland, boring, tough, and yuck.

Mr. J marinated the pork for flavors of honey and lime. Then while he grilled it to perfection, I made some rice with peaches nectarines, lime juice, peach jam, red onion.

The Three Bite Rule - Pork & Rice

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin
1/2 cup lime juice + 1 tablespoon
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup rice
1/4 red onion
1 peach/nectarine
~ 1 cup cilantro (1/2 bunch)
1/4 cup peach preserves

Directions:

Marinade the pork in 1/2 cup lime juice, honey, & garlic powder for 4 hours refrigerated.
Get the rice cooking.
Grill flipping to cook each side. Grill to at least 145 degrees. Let it sit about 5 minutes after removing from the heat.
Chop the onion, nectarine, and cilantro and add into the cooked rice.
Add in 1 tablespoon lime juice and peach preserves. Mix well.
The Three Bite Rule - Pork & Rice
Slice the pork and serve with a sprinkle of cilantro over a bed of the rice.
Enjoy!

We really did love this. I was so into the peaches with the pork with the onion. The babe couldn’t get enough pork. He had so much and just kept asking for more! Though, he wasn’t into it the next day as leftovers. He liked the rice being kind of sticky…it was much easier for him to spoon from his bowl.
The Three Bite Rule - Pork & Rice